90 Fitness Answers 05 – What Does It Mean To Be Fit?

Relentless athlete Travis is getting some serious interval work done on the Prowler!

What Is Being “Fit”?

While it’s great to go talk the nuts and bolts of fitness, sets, reps, grams of protein, and the like… I think it’s important to take a step back and think about something even more fundamental:

Answering the question of “what is being fit?“.

There’s lots of different answers out there, depending on your school of thought or guru that you follow. If you ask the endurance community, they’ll say that fitness is having a great VO2 Max and being able to go for miles and miles. Throw it out to the powerlifters and they’ll say that the only thing that matters is your squat, bench press, and deadlift. Ask a gymnast the question and they’ll have their answer, just like a football player, rugger, or Water Polo player would.

Broaden it out even more, and you’ll find that the 83 year-old who still lives on their own and does all of their own yard work has an answer… and it might be different than the 37 year-old mom of three and probably a bit different than the 32 year-old guy who works in an accounting firm but likes to run obstacle course races on the weekends.

The point I’m trying to make is: Being “fit” isn’t an arbitrary number or ability. It’s the ability to perform your desired tasks. For MOST people, it’ll be something to the effect of:

-Keeping a level of muscle mass and body fat percentage that’s both healthy and looks good.
-Having enough endurance to not only live daily life but be able to do active recreational activities.
-Being mobile enough to avoid injury, play recreational sports, and do most any task you need.
-Developing enough strength to both carry out daily tasks but also move, do yard work, and play sports.
-Maintaining health and enhancing longevity.

So, this is one of those “answers” that is really answered by “it depends”, but I felt that it was important to talk about and put the question back on you:

“Are you fit enough for the things you want to do with your life?”

If the answer is no, just by examining that question it should give you the areas you need to look into.